Serial number: EA-5344

FON: 427E-6

Year shipped: 1939 

Headstock: Horizontal script ‘Gibson’ logo

Neck/fingerboard: 20 fret fingerboard with pointed end and narrow block inlays from the first fret. 25 ½-inch scale length. Wide neck heel. Like other early examples of the L-5P, the fingerboard is glued flush to the top of the guitar rather than being elevated as on the non-cutaway L-5

Body: 17-inch body with maple back and sides, Venetian cutaway, Natural finish, large bound f-holes and parallel top bracing

Hardware: Gold-plated metal parts including Grover Imperial tuner and Varitone tailpiece.  Rosewood bridge 

Notes: The serial number is stamped on the back of the headstock. This is something occasionally seen on high end Gibson archtops made from 1938 through 1940. The serial number usually takes the form of two letters followed by a four-digit number. The same serial number would normally appear on the internal label, which, in the case of the guitar pictured here, is unfortunately damaged.

According to vintage Gibson expert Andre Duchossoir, serial number EA-5344 was the third L-5PN to be shipped. Joe Spann (author of Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902-1941), however states that the serial number ‘’EA-5344’ belongs to an SJ-100 acoustic flat-top guitar, which was shipped on 23rd Feb 1940 to Tarpley Music Store

This guitar is one of 15 Natural finished Premier L-5s shipped in 1939.

Images courtesy of Laurent Milliat